348 AFFECTIONS OF INSECTS. 



by affection towards ourselves, which beams in the eye of a 

 favourite dog, or speaks in the recognising chirp of our petted 

 bird. 



Speaking of affections leads us to inquire about those of 

 insects ; for affections they would seem most clearly to evince 

 in their social relations and intercourse with one another. 



Contrary to the axiom that "instinct works by the love of 

 self/' nothing can seem in the insect, as well as in the feathered 

 fowl, to work more unselfishly than the instincts or affections of 

 maternity. The earwig, as we have seen, imitates the brood- 

 ing hen. The spider will sacrifice her life to save her eggs 

 from destruction. The solitary bee or wasp, after preparing 

 her nest with infinite labour, collects for the provision of her 

 offspring a supply of animal food unpalatable to herself. 

 While amongst the insects termed social, such as common 

 wasps, honey-bees, and ants, the same maternal principle, im- 

 planted not (with all) in the producing but in the working 

 mothers, incites to efforts yet more surprising, of toil, of 

 watchfulness, of self-sacrifice. 



Nor is the love of offspring, or that resembling affection 

 implanted in the general nurses of the hive or formicary, the 

 only attachment of which insects seem susceptible. If all 

 about them be instinctive we must allow them to have instinc- 

 tive friendships, fellowships, fellowships at least for mutual 

 advantage and assistance, fellowships such as are of all others, 

 most similar to those wrought and cemented under the guid- 



